Cell support for children's hospice
Howard Lake | 16 December 2005 | News
Prisoners at Maghaberry prision are helping the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice with preparations for five Santa’s Grottos which will raise funds for life limited children. The prisoners have wrapped 2000 gifts for a Santa’s Grotto run in aid of the Hospice.
The Hospice needs £1.5 million annually to run the children’s hospice which provides respite and emergency care for life limited children and their families.
“The grottos are a very significant fundraiser for us,” explained hospice fundraiser, Katie Setterfield. “The work being done in Maghaberry saves us valuable money and time which we can devote directly to our work with children and their families.”
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Maghaberry’s resettlement manager, Glenn Hutton, said that the prison was only too pleased to be able to help.
“Last year the men wrapped gifts for ChildLine and this year we wanted to see if anyone else would like our help. In all, about six prisoners wrapped the 2000 gifts in just three weeks for the Hospice, so they did really well.
One of the prisoners involved said, “I enjoyed doing it and some of the boys even wanted to take the gifts back to their cells at night to finish the work on time. In the end we managed to do it during the day. I am very happy to do things for charity. It is nice for the children to have something to look forward to.”
The grottos are situated at Carrickfergus De Courcy Centre, Donegore Landscape Centre, Hillmount Garden Centre Gilnahirk, Hillside Garden Centre Newtownabbey and Mid Ulster Garden Centre, Maghera.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.